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Chuck DarwinYou may not think about #Tim #Dunn.
Indeed, unless you’re a close observer of Texas politics, it’s likely you haven’t heard of him.
But Dunn thinks a lot about you.
For two decades he has been quietly, methodically, and patiently building a political machine that has pushed Texas forcefully to the right, sending more and more members of the centrist wing of the Republican Party into exile.
A 68-year-old #oil #billionaire, Dunn seeks to transform Texas into something resembling a #theocracy.
👉If you ever wonder why state laws and policies are more radical than most Texans would prefer, the answer has a lot to do with Dunn and his #checkbook.
If you question why Texas’s elected officials no longer represent the majority of Texans’ views, the reason can be traced to the tactics employed by Dunn and the many organizations and politicians he funds and influences.
He has built his own caucus within the Legislature that is financially beholden to him.
And despite his Sunday school pleas for comity, Dunn has deepened Texas’s political divisions:
there are the Democrats and what remains of the mainstream conservative Republican Party.
And then there are Dunn and his allies.
For Dunn, politics, work, and religion all run together.
“I have very deliberately unsegmented my life,” he said in 2022 on a podcast hosted by Ken Harrison, the chair of #Promise #Keepers, a national evangelical group for men.
“I don’t have one approach in business and another approach in ministry and another approach in church . . . I work for God, and God has given me a bunch of jobs to do.”
Dunn directs that work from the center of a hive of his own creation, surrounded by politicians and pastors, fellow oil billionaires, and political consultants, all of whom are carrying out his vision.
He still has a bee on a string—except these days, that bee is the state of Texas.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/billionaire-tim-dunn-runs-texas/
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AAron Leckinger
